Asian Review
Publication Date
2025
Abstract
This article investigates the dynamic relationship between cultural heritage and regional identity among the Indian diaspora in Singapore, specifically focusing on the experiences of classical Indian dancers. Historically, the process of “Indianization” deeply influenced the cultural landscape of Southeast Asia, evidenced by the regional prominence of the Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Using the context of a regional Ramayana Festival, this paper analyzes how Singaporean Indian dancers, while performing art forms rooted in the Indian subcontinent, negotiate their identity when confronted with diverse Southeast Asian interpretations of the same epic narrative.The study argues that this encounter forces a critical negotiation between the essentialized notion of “Indianness” (the perceived homeland culture) and a localized sense of “Belonging” within the Southeast Asian region. The dancers’ performance becomes a site where two impulses intersect: the desire to preserve the purity of classical tradition and the acknowledg-ment of a unique, diasporic reality. Ultimately, this research demonstrates that identity for the Singapore Indian community is not fixed but is a fluctuating, active process, continuously shaped by regional cultural dialogue and revealing a distinctive Southeast Asian Indian consciousness.
DOI
10.14456/arv.2025.8
First Page
45
Last Page
64
Recommended Citation
Takemura, Yoshiaki
(2025)
"Fluctuating “Indianness” or “Belonging” : Singapore Indian Dancers and Their Encounter with Southeast Asia at Ramayana Festival,"
Asian Review: Vol. 38:
No.
2, Article 4.
DOI: 10.14456/arv.2025.8
Available at:
https://digital.car.chula.ac.th/arv/vol38/iss2/4